Drawbar assembly for implement hitch



March 29, 1966 K. F. ROENFELDT DRAWBAR ASSEMBLY FOR IMPLEMENT HITCH Filed Nov. 15, 1963 INVENTOR. KENT ON F ROENFELDT United States Patent ()ffice 3,243,200 Patented Mar. 29, 1966 3,243,200 DRAWBAR ASSEMBLY FOR IMPLEMENT HITCH Kenton F. Roenfeldt, Mineola, Iowa Filed Nov. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 324,134 2 Claims. (Cl. 280415) This invention relates to conventional tractor drawbar assemblies of a conventional type having forwardly extending pointed notched pintles and it is an object to provide a new invention for making possible a swinging drawbar for the notched pintle type drawbar carrier.

Heretofore, the notched pintle type drawbar carriers have had only fixed drawbars attached thereto. The reason for this has been because the longer swinging drawbar requires pivotal attachment of a transverse bar on its forward end in order to permit its rearward end to swing across a support bar.

Although in drawbar assemblies of other types, there have been support bar carrying arms with large exposed areas to which ends of such a transverse bar can be attached, yet in the pointed notched pintle type of drawbar support, the bar carrying the arms has no open areas to which such a transverse bar can be attached.

For this reason, the prior art had thought it impossible to use a swinging bar with a pointed notched pintle type of drawbar support, to the end that a fixed non-swinging plate used as a drawbar had been attached to the support bar in the pointed notched pintle type drawbar assemblies.

As the swinging drawbar is very important for the selective positioning of the pointed draft of a towing implement, it is an object of this invention to provide a swinging drawbar in a pointed notched pintle carrier assembly.

In backing up to any tongued implement, sighting for alignment is impossible as the tongue itself is then lying on the ground. After the tractor has stopped and the operator has dismounted and raised the tongue for connection, a swinging drawbar makes connection by allowing the drawbar to adjust to the position of the tongnie for hole alignment so that the drawbar pin can be inserted to secure the tongue.

The reason pointed notched pintle types have not had arm areas accessible is because substantially the length of each such arm must freely project for insertion into arm-receiving sleeves mounted on the tractor.

A particular object, therefore, is to provide my solution which is to provide means for mounting a transverse bar, not on the arms, but on the rear support bar itself.

It is a further and particular objective to provide a drawbar assembly as described in which the perforated support bar is rigidly fixed to the notched pintle arms to avoid a floppiness that would occur if there were a pivotal attachment at this point such as would lead to damage of the tongue and drawbar in towing implements which are over-balanced and place weight down on their tongue.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims, the scope of the invention not being limited to the drawings themselves as the drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a way in which the principles of this invention can be applied.

Other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an end elevational view of an implement hitch mounting with the hitch assembly shown in full lines and the tractor elements shown in broken lines.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view illustrating the improved hitch mounting with the short drawbar, showing the drawbar in a longitudinally disposed position in full lines, and in an angularly disposed position in broken lines.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the drawbar assembly showing, in particular, the pintles or latching arms for supporting the extended end of the drawbar, a pintle-receiving sleeve mounted on a tractor being diagrammatically shown in dotted lines. I

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the numeral 10 refers to the new drawbar assembly in its entirety, numeral 12 indicates a drawbar pivotally mounted by a pivot bolt 14 between anchor bars 16 and 18 of a frame generally indicated at 19.

The bolt 14 defines a vertical axis of pivoting and an aperture 21, shown in dotted lines at 21, extends through the drawbar so that it can swing substantially and into the dotted line position shown in FIGURE 2.

Numeral 20 indicates a drawbar support bar positioned below the drawbar 12 and having upwardly extending end sections 22 and 24 from the upper ends of which arms or pintles 26 and 28 extend.

Numerals 30 and 32 indicate struts connecting ends of the transverse or anchor bars 16 and 18 to the support bar 20. The struts 30 and 32 form further parts of the frame means 19.

It will be seen that the support bar 20 is rigidly attached,

to the end sections 22 and 24 which in turn are rigidly attached to the arms or pintles 26 and 28. This prevents the support bar 20 from pivoting with respect to the arms 26 and 28 to avoid a floppiness that would otherwise be present.

A keeper bar 34 extends over the drawbar 20 and the struts 30 and 32. The forward ends of the pintles or arms 26 and 28 are provided with downwardly and forwardly extending bafiled surfaces 36 and which extend from forward tips or points 40 and 42 upwardly and rearwardly.

Notches 44 and 46 are disposed in the upper ends of the arms or pintles 26 and 28 to receive latches, not shown, which latter are connected to arm-receiving sleeves of a tractor, one such sleeve being indicated at 48 and 50 in FIGURES 1 and 3.

It will be seen that substantially the entire length of each arm 26 or 28 is received in a respective sleeve 48 and 50, allowing no possibility of connecting the transverse bars 16 and 18 to the arms 26 and 28 as has posed the problem which this invention has solved.

A tractor shown in dotted lines at 56 carries the sleeves 48.

Bolts 58 and 60 connect the struts 30 and 32 to the support bar 20. The rearward end of the drawbar 12 has a bolt hole 62 for connecting the drawbar to a tongue of an implement. The drawbar is retained in a desired position with respect to the support bar 20 by keeper bolts 64 and 66 which extend through the support bar 20 and through the keeper bar 34, and bolts 64 and 66 are removable when desired.

In operation, the driver of the tractor need simply position his tractor approximately near the tongue of an implement, then after dismounting and lifting the tongue of the implement near the drawbar 12, he can swing the drawbar 12 from side to side, swinging the tongue of the implement as well, until it is in alignment with a hole in the tongue so that a drawbar bolt can be dropped through aligned holes.

In this way, convenience of attachment is made possible by the swinging drawbar that was not available when swinging drawbars were heretofore thought impossible for use with pointed pintle type drawbar assemblies.

It is, therefore, believed that this invention fulfills the objectives above set forth.

It will be seen that the struts 30 and 32 are rigidly attached by bolts 58 and 60 to the support bar 20 and that the anchor bars 16 and 18, as best seen in FIGURE 3, are rigidly attached to the struts 30 and 32 whereby the pivoting forward end of the drawbar 12 is rigidly fixed with respect to the arms 26 and 28.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that a drawbar assembly for implement hitch constructed in accordance with my invention is particularly well adapted for use, by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also beobvious that my invention can be changed and modified without departing from the princi ples and spirit thereof, and for this reason, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. A drawbar assembly comprising a pair of horizontally positioned parallel arms, means on the forward ends of said arms for attaching said arms to a tractor, a drawbar support bar horizontally extending across and rigidly secured to rearward ends of said arms, a drawbar disposed across said support bar having a pivot point disposed a substantial distance forwardly thereof, whereby a substantial horizontal swinging of said support bar about said pivot point is possible, frame means rigidly fixed to said support bar and extending forwardly therefrom, means pivotally connecting said frame means to said drawbar at said pivot point for the horizontal swinging of said drawbar on said frame means about a vertical axis, and means for preventing undesired vertical movement of the forward end of said drawbar with respect to said frame means said frame means being spaced from said arms respectively for permitting the reception of the forward ends of said arms in sleeves.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said frame means comprises forwardly extending portions disposed on each side of said drawbar which latter are fixed to said support bar on each side of said drawbar, and further comprises means interconnecting forward ends of said forwardly extending portions.

References Qited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/ 1957 Orelind.

LEO FRIAGLIA, Primary Examiner.

A. HARRY LEVY, Examiner.

R. C. PODWIL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DRAWBAR ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A PAIR OF HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED PARALLEL ARMS, MEANS ON THE FORWARD ENDS OF SAID ARMS FOR ATTACHING SAID ARMS TO A TRACTOR, A DRAWBAR SUPPORT BAR HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING ACROSS AND RIGIDLY SECURED TO REARWARD ENDS OF SAID ARMS, A DRAWBAR DISPOSED ACROSS SAID SUPPORT BAR HAVING A PIVOT POINT DISPOSED A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE FORWARDLY THEREOF, WHEREBY A SUBSTANTIAL HORIZONTAL SWINGING OF SAID SUPPORT BAR ABOUT SAID PIVOT POINT IS POSSIBLE, FRAME MEANS RIGIDLY FIXED TO SAID SUPPORT BAR AN EXTENDING FORWARDLY THEREFROM, 